7 Reasons Why No One is Reading Your Blog

How many repeat visitors to your website or blog do you really have? If the latest statistics show that nobody’s coming back to your site for more than a perfunctory second look, chances are there is a problem – or multiple problems. Here are seven likely reasons why nobody wants to read your content– and what you can do to entice them to come back.

1. It’s Boring. There could be two reasons why this is so. You’re not supplying enough content for people to look at. If you’re not updating your blog at least 2-3 times per week, nobody will think about coming to your site more than twice. However, if you’re adding a lot of content, but what you’re adding is worthless. If your readers aren’t taking something away that they can use from your site, there’s no reason for them to come back. Have something to say. Teach. Inform. Share your opinion. Get people excited.

2. It’s ugly. Take a good, hard look at your site. Are there huge paragraphs with no breaks? Have you bothered to add any pictures or lists to break up the blocks? People are easily discouraged by a lot of words. Think of all the books you’ve read in your life. Which were the easiest ones to read? The ones that broke things up. There’s a reason bibles are printed in two columns and short verses on each page: it’s easier to read. If easy-to-read copy is good enough for Moses, it’s good enough for you. Also, make sure your site has great headlines. Make the viewer want to read more. If you don’t pull them in at first glance, you’ve lost them for good – or at least until you put up another blog post.

3. It’s Not Content, It’s Advertising. People aren’t coming to your blog to hear about your products or services. They’re coming to see how much of an expert you are about your business. For example, let’s say you sell air conditioners. If you use your blog to tout the strengths of the air conditioners you sell, then you might as well hang up the blog, because you’re just repeating what your website should be saying already. Your blog should contain content that discusses the finer aspects of air conditioning, such as, “When is it time to get a new air conditioner?” “How important are regular A/C checkups?” “5 signs your air conditioner is about to go down the toilet.” Things like that.

4. It doesn’t appeal to your demographic. Your corporate blog isn’t your family or personal interest blog. Chances are your readers don’t want to see pictures from your last vacation, or discuss why you think A Flock of Seagulls left a much richer musical heritage than ‘Men at Work.’ Write about what your audience wants from you. Become an expert at what you do. Strive to be THE online expert that everybody turns to for answers.

5. It’s not being promoted enough. To paraphrase that baseball movie, “If you write it, they probably won’t come – unless you tell them about it.” Get social. Announce every change to your blog on your social sites. Facebook the news. Tweet it. Send out emails. Do whatever you have to do to get your audience looking at your site. Even mentioning it to people isn’t too far out.

6. Too many Cooks. If you’re writing a blog that has to be okayed by more people than you – and maybe one other person – then you are most likely going to have a boring blog. Why? Because when too many people add their two cents and the original message stops being as unique. It stops being about what you want to talk about and more about what the other contributors want to say. Tell them to go write their own blogs. Be the voice for your company and don’t let others “help.” If you’re not the owner of your company and you have to get everything approved by someone else, call a meeting. Determine which subjects you can talk about without having to get approval and which ones you can’t. Then, stick with the no-approval list of subjects as much as you can.

7. Wrong focus. If your writing seems more concerned about making money than about providing helpful information, stop writing and get somebody more objective to do it for you. Provide useful information. Make sure your readers can leave comments. Read those comments and post polite but informative answers when you feel you have something to say.

If you know for a fact that your website or blog fits into any of the above, use this post to begin to change your content scope to attract more visitors.

About the Author

Spencer Hesseltine enjoys writing about SEO, social media and link building. If your website is in need of a full service search marketing solution, please do not hesitate to contact The SEO Agency. You can also follow TheSEOAgency on Twitter and Facebook.